15 Trends for 2015 – showcasing the biggest digital trends for the year ahead

There’s one question I’m asked more frequently than any other: how do you spot a trend?

The answer is fairly simple. As we explore in 15 for 15 – where we outline the major digital trends to look out for in the year ahead – there are two fairly dependable constants to rely on here. Firstly, trends don’t simply materialize out of thin air; they have a far longer trajectory than that. Secondly, only rarely are they the result of never-seen-beforebehaviors or impossible-to-predict circumstances; whether they grow quickly or slowly – and whether they impact a single country/region or become truly global – most digital trends are driven by a combination of improving tech capabilities and evolving consumer needs and wants.

It’s in this context that we’ve approached our 15 trends for 2015. By analyzing data from 32 different countries across multiple waves of research (the most recent of which was collected just a week ago), we’ve chosen our stories based on a detailed, multi-market understanding of current trends and behaviors in 2014.

Unlike some, we’ve not set out to “create” 15 brand-new digital trends that you’ve never heard of before. Instead, we’ve selected 15 key areas which will be generating digital headlines and exerting a strong influence over marketing spend in the year ahead. Some of these trends will be driven by the arrival of new products, by advances in tech capabilities or by increases in audience sizes. Others are the result of existing trends crossing into the mainstream, gaining a new sense of momentum or reaching crucial tipping points. But pretty much all of them which have implications which stretch far beyond the end of 2015.

You can download your copy of the report here to read our thoughts on the following:

• Generation V: Why VPN usage is a major challenge for content providers and audience measurement
• Tablet Fatigue: How smartphones are beginning to win the battle against tablets
• The New Tech Elite: Tracking behaviors among young, affluent consumers in fast-growth markets
• Facebook Gets Passive: The social networking giant still rules the roost, but behaviors are evolving
• TV.com: The creep from linear to online TV is gaining momentum among 16-24s
• China Rising: What Alibaba’s huge flotation tells us about the traditional West-to-Rest model
• The Slow Death of Search: Can traditional search survive within an increasingly mobile landscape?
• Wearable Tech Gets Mainstream: Why 2015 should be the year when wearables finally shed their niche status
• Android Excels: How Android has become the dominant mobile operating system
• RIP SMS: Does the explosion of mobile messaging apps spell the end for the humble text?
• The Shared Internet: Why audiences on mobiles and tablets are much bigger than you might think
• The Battle for Content: How streaming is becoming fundamental to content consumption
• Multi-Networking: The rise of the social networker with accounts on multiple platforms
• Game On in Asia: What the end of the console ban in China means for the global gaming landscape
• Track Me If You Can: Examining the digital landscape in the post-cookie era